Gilroy went up against some of the state’s best and earned
bragging rights
Gilroy – Eminem. System of A Down. Jay-Z.
They’re artists athletes are likely to listen to when they want to get pumped up before competition.
But Barry Manilow?
However inappropriate for the occasion, Manilow’s music worked for the four Gilroy High wrestlers that competed at the Five Counties tournament at Fountain Valley High in Southern California over the weekend.
“Friday morning, Hunter (Collins’) dad had the ‘Best of Barry Manilow,'” said Gilroy High assistant coach Mike Koester. “We were driving over (to the tournament) and the kids started singing it.”
That day, Collins, Andres Barragan, Adin Dueñas and Tim Ibañez all went undefeated.
So the crew repeated the Manilow tradition Saturday.
By the time the “toughest tournament in California” was all over that afternoon, Dueñas (135 pounds) and Collins (171 pounds) had second-place finishes, Ibañez owned fourth at 119 and Barragan took sixth at 189 pounds.
“We said, ‘It’s gotta be Barry,'” laughed Koester.
Despite having just four wrestlers competing, Gilroy took 12th at the tournament. Defending state champ Poway won the meet.
Ibañez, who was unseeded in the tournament, continues to upset higher-ranked opponents. The sophomore upset several competitors at the Doc Buchanan tournament last weekend and did the same at Five Counties. Ibañez defeated the fourth, fifth, 10th and 12th seeded wrestlers – including Doc Buchanan titlist Scott Bare of Ponderosa – to take fifth place.
“After this performance, (Ibañez) will probably be ranked,” Koester said.
At 135, Dueñas made it to the finals. Along the way, he beat Chaparral High’s Chris Druin who beat teammate Armando Gonzalez at the state finals last year.
In the 171 pound finals, Collins almost pulled off a win against his biggest competition, defending state champion Louis Bland of Central Catholic.
Unfortunately, according to Koester, a referee’s unfair call cost Collins dearly.
Collins had Bland pinned on his back in the second period when the referee stopped the match when he thought Bland was bleeding.
“(Bland) started screaming ‘Ahhh!’ and the ref stopped it,” Koester said. “They said they called for blood time and we said, ‘Well OK, where’s the blood?'”
Koester said he never saw blood on Bland during the break. When the match was re-started, Bland, ranked seventh nationally, escaped for a point to cut Collins’ lead to 5-3. He escaped again in the third period to make it 5-4. In the final ten seconds, Bland scored on a takedown to win 6-5.
Koester said Collins escaped at the end of the third period as well. But the refs didn’t award the point.
“That would have tied it up,” Koester said. “Whatever could have gone wrong did.”
Gilroy hosts Live Oak Wednesday at home at 5:30pm before heading to the Overfelt Classic in San Jose Saturday. Everyone on Gilroy’s roster except for Gonzalez, who is still recovering from a neck injury he suffered at the Reno TOC in December, will be healthy for the tournament. State qualifiers Nico Naranjo (119 pounds), who missed the Doc Buchanan because he had the flu, and Austin Gubrud (152 pounds), who has been out with a back injury since early December, will be back for the weekend.
“This is the first time anybody will really have seen the full team,” Koester said.
